Answers · By Sun Yi, creator of the Myth Sandwich
How do I find a story to tell?
Short answerYou already have stories, you just need to go looking for them. Start by blocking out periods of your life and writing down every vivid memory you can find.
Start With Your Memories
- Block out periods of your life: childhood, middle school, high school, college, first job, your twenties, your thirties.
- Write down every vivid memory you can find from each period.
- Start with the memory first, then figure out what the lesson is after.
Let Others Trigger You
- Listening to other people's stories will make you think, "that reminds me of a time..." and that's how your own stories surface.
- Collect stories every day, not just when you need one for a talk or a post.
In Sun's words
Everyone asks me how to tell better stories. But that's the wrong question. You can't tell a story you haven't found yet. Story finding comes before storytelling, and most people jump straight to the telling. What you need to do is reflect. Journal. Sit with your memories. Ask yourself why things happened the way they did. Every time you reflect, you're uncovering another story. And those stories are what make you who you are. Once you have the stories, then you can work on telling them. But you can't skip the finding part and go straight to the telling. That's the mistake I see over and over.
▶ Watch Sun explain thisThe best way to come up with a story is to start with the story, then figure out what the lesson is. Most people do it backwards. They decide the point they want to make and then try to find a story to fit it. That kills it. Start with a vivid memory. Something where you can picture yourself in the room. What's happening around you? What did you believe that turned out to be false? That's your story. Every time you retell a story, it gets a little more clear. Then a little more clear. Then more. That's why we retell it — first out loud in a group, then on video. The lesson reveals itself the more you tell it.
▶ Watch Sun explain thisTry itOpen Story Bank and write down one vivid memory from any period of your life, without worrying about the lesson yet.
This answer comes from Sun Yi's Story Bank Library.
The full Library has thousands of Sun's stories and lessons, plus Sun Bot to help you write your own. Get it with Night Owl Nation or Story Bank.
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